February 21, 2012

THAMBI NAIDOO AND KASTURBA GANDHI

Their Crucial Contribution to the Success of Satyagraha in South Africa

E. S. Reddy

The Satyagraha in South Africa, led by Gandhi a century ago, owes its success, in large measure,
to the sacrifice and leadership of Thambi Naidoo and to the “silent suffering” of Mrs. Kasturba
Gandhi. Their contribution, however, has received little recognition in the writings on the
satyagraha.

The satyagraha was confined to the Transvaal from 1906 when the Indian community pledged to
defy the humiliating Asiatic Ordinance until it was suspended on May 20, 1911, when Gandhi
and Smuts reached a provisional settlement which the government failed to implement.

More than two thousand adult men, in a total population of twelve to fourteen thousand, had
gone to prison. A number of Indians came from Natal in solidarity and suffered equally. Most of
the satyagrahis were sentenced to hard labour in prison. Many of them lost their property and
became paupers.

But this phase of the satyagraha, though extremely significant historically, did not result in the
redress of Indian grievances, Instead the Indian community was subjected to more restrictions
and harassment. By 1910, the resistance seemed to be petering out, except for a few determined
satyagrahis who courted imprisonment again and again.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the eminent Indian leader, visited South Africa in 1912 at the invitation
of Gandhi to investigate the position of the Indians. He was received by General Louis Botha, the
Prime Minister, and General J.C. Smuts, the Minister of the Interior. He was led to believe that
the three pound tax, the main grievance of most Indians in the Natal, and would be abolished.

In January 1913, after Gokhale left, Gandhi closed the Tolstoy Farm near Johannesburg and
moved to the Phoenix Settlement in Natal. Soon the Indian community was confronted with two
serious challenges.

1. The government denied that it had promised to abolish the three pound tax.
2. Ruling on an appeal from the decision of an immigration officer who refused entry to
Mariam Bai, who arrived in Cape Town with her husband, Judge Malcolm Searle of
the Cape Supreme Court said that marriages performed according to a religion which
allowed polygamy – that is, all Mahomedan and Hindu marriages - would not be
recognised in South Africa.
The Natal Government had, in the 1890s, imposed an exorbitant tax of three pounds a year on
every Indian who had completed five years of labour under indenture, as well as his wife and
children over the age of 16. The intention was to force free Indians to enter into further indenture
or return to India. The indentured labourers had been promised freedom and land after indenture
and many of them worked hard as market gardeners and developed Natal. They were now
subjected to an onerous tax that they could not afford. The enforcement of law became stricter
over the years and non-payment of the tax became a criminal offence leading to imprisonment.

Gandhi’s newspaper, Indian Opinion, had repeatedly denounced the tax and publicised the
suffering it caused. It had become intolerable and resistance had become imperative by the time
Gandhi moved to Natal.

The Searle ruling had enormous implications. If it had prevailed, almost all married Indian
women would legally be treated as concubines and their children as illegitimate; they would have
lost the right of inheritance and the right to enter South Africa. The government ignored repeated
appeals for a legislative remedy.

These two issues affected most of the Indians all over South Africa. While shocking, they also
provided an opportunity to mobilize the community in united resistance, by encouraging the
workers to strike and the women to offer satyagraha.

According to Pragji Desai, who went to prison many times, Gandhi came to Johannesburg and
immediately called a meeting of about a dozen old passive resisters who had proved their mettle
in the satyagraha in the Transvaal. He quoted from memory the gist of what Gandhi said:

“The legality of our marriages and the three pound poll tax have become religious
questions to me… They involve the honour of our great country… I know that the spirit
of the community is at its lowest ebb, but that does not worry me… I certainly want every
one of you to join the struggle. But this time my conditions are very strict. If you wish to
line up with me, you must first of all forget your wife, children and other members of the
family…”

He continued that if no one else joined him,

“…I will fight till the end of my life, and will get the three pound poll tax and the
marriage act repealed. I must do or die. I am also considering whether our womenfolk
should take part in the struggle or not. Their own honour is also at stake. Up till now we
have not asked them to join the struggle. I ask your opinion on this question too. I should
now like to know your own decision.”
All those present said “yes” without hesitation. The meeting decided, after a full discussion, that
women should be invited to participate in the struggle and court imprisonment.1

Gandhi did not expect many to offer satyagraha. He wrote to Gokhale on June 20, 1913: “So far
as I can judge at present, 100 men and 13 women will start the struggle. As time goes, we may
have more.”

In the Transvaal many wives of satyagrahis volunteered. They had been anxious for years to join
their husbands in resistance and share the suffering for the honour of India. It was decided that
they would court arrest by hawking without permit and, if they were not arrested, go to
Newcastle in Natal to persuade the mine workers to strike.

Gandhi then went to Phoenix and spoke to the inmates, especially women. Kasturba, his wife,
was the first to volunteer, despite her poor health.2 Indian Opinion (October 1, 1913) reported:

“The ladies [in Phoenix] were allowed to join the struggle after great effort was made by
them to take part in it. When Mrs. Gandhi understood the marriage difficulty, she was
incensed and said to Mr. Gandhi: ‘Then I am not you wife, according to the laws of this
country.’ Mr. Gandhi replied that that was so and added that their children were not their
heirs. ‘Then,’ she said, ‘let us go to India.’ Mr. Gandhi replied that that would be
cowardly and that it would not solve the difficulty. ‘Could I not, then, join the struggle
and be imprisoned myself?’ Mr. Gandhi told her that she could but that it was not a small
matter. Her health was not good, she had not known that type of hardship and it would be
disgraceful if, after her joining the struggle, she weakened. But Mrs. Gandhi was not to
be moved. The other ladies, so closely related and living on the Settlement, would not be
gainsaid. They insisted that, apart from their own convictions, just as strong as Mrs.
Gandhi’s, they could not possibly remain out and allow Mrs. Gandhi to go to jail.”

The first batch of satyagrahis – 12 men and 4 women - went from Phoenix to the Transvaal
border on 15 September 1913; they were arrested for crossing the provincial border without
permits. Three of the women - Mrs. Kasturba Gandhi, Mrs. Chhaganlal Gandhi and Mrs.
Maganlal Gandhi – were from the Gandhi family and the fourth, Ms. Jayakunwar Mehta, was the
daughter of Pranjivan Mehta, a friend of Gandhi in London. They were sentenced on 23
September to three months with hard labour.

1
Pragji Desai, “Satyagraha in South Africa” in Chandrashanker Shukla (ed.) Reminiscences of Gandhiji. Bombay:
Vora & Co., 1951.
2
Gandhi made an error in Satyagraha in South Africa, written from memory in prison many years later, in stating
that he had spoken to Kasturba after other women in Phoenix had agreed to court imprisonment. He wrote to
Gokhale on April 19, 1913: “Mrs. Gandhi made the offer on her own initiative…” Raojibhai M. Patel, an inmate of
the Ashram and a member of the first batch of satyagrahis from Phoenix, was present during the conversation
between Gandhi and Katsurba. He wrote in Gandhiji ki Sadhana (second edition) that he had pointed out the error to
Gandhi and that Gandhi agreed, after consulting Kasturba, to correct the text.
Satyagraha began in the Transvaal on 29 September when Manilal Gandhi, Pragji Desai and S.B.
Medh went out hawking in Johannesburg.

Twelve women, with six babies in arms, crossed the border to Free State and were not arrested.
They came back without permits to Vereeniging in the Transvaal and hawked but were again not
arrested. They then proceeded to Newcastle in Natal according to plan. Thambi Naidoo, the
veteran satyagrahi, led them on their mission to persuade workers to strike. The twelve women
included the wife and mother-in law of Thambi Naidoo and the sister-in law of Mrs. Thambi
Naidoo. All of them were Tamils, except for Mrs. Bhawani Dayal.

Thambi Naidoo, born in Mauritius, was a leader of the Tamil community who was prepared for
any sacrifice in the struggle for the honour of India. He was one of the founders of the Transvaal
Indian Congress in 1893, a year before the Natal Indian Congress was established by Gandhi. He
led a delegation to the Johannesburg Town Council when he was only 19. He was one of the few
Indians who saw President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic (later Transvaal) to
petition against the law restricting Indians to segregated localities. When Gandhi established the
British Indian Association in the Transvaal, the TIC phased out and Thambi Naidoo became the
lieutenant of Gandhi. He was the hero of the satyagraha in South Africa during which he went
fourteen times to prison. Gandhi wrote to Gopal Krishna Gokhale on December 6, 1909:

“… perhaps the bravest and the staunchest of all (Indians in jail) is the indomitable
Thambi Naidoo. I do not know any Indian who knows the spirit of the struggle so well as
he does… He has sacrificed himself entirely…”

He escorted the women to Newcastle, and took them around the railway barracks and the coal
mines to exhort the Indian workers to strike. He addressed thousands of people at meetings in the
coal-mining area..

The strike was in full swing when Gandhi rushed to Newcastle on 20 October. “The appearance
of the brave ladies simply acts like a charm and the men obey the advice given them without any
great argument being required,” reported Indian Opinion on 22 October. The workers had
already heard of the imprisonment of Kasturba and other members of the Gandhi family. The
strike spread like wildfire after Gandhi arrived.

The Transvaal women were charged on 21 October under the Vagrancy Act. They admitted that
they had come to Newcastle to advise the mine workers to suspend work until the government
promised to repeal the three pound tax. They were sentenced on the same day to three months
with hard labour, and taken to the jail in Maritzburg where the Phoenix women were
incarcerated.

Thambi Naidoo followed Gandhi in the Great March and led 300 strikers to the Transvaal
border. He then went to the Transvaal and came back to Natal with seven more women,
including Valliamma, the teenage martyr of the satyagraha.
When Gandhi was arrested on 9 November, about 5,000 workers were on strike: 300 of them
had been jailed and about 3,000 were in the Great March. After his imprisonment the strike
spread to sugar plantations where over 15,000 went on strike, and then to municipal and harbour
workers.

Indian Opinion wrote on March 4, 1914, that Thambi Naidoo worked ceaselessly night and day
among the indentured labourers in the mines. It was to him and his party that was largely due the
credit for the strike on the mines.3 Curiously enough, while the women were arrested, he was not.
He remained in charge at Newcastle when Gandhi proceeded on the march.

“…after the arrest of the strikers on the commencement of the strike on sugar estates, be
came down to Durban, where, with his usual tireless energy, he was everywhere. He was
also instrumental in bringing about the strike in Maritzburg and was arrested while
addressing a mass meeting there.4 He was brought to Durban and detained in custody
pending the hearing of his case, as he declined to give an assurance that he would refrain
from taking further part in the passive resistance movement. He was subsequently
released on one hundred pound bail and, eventually the charge against him was
withdrawn.”

While the strike, the largest general strike in South Africa until then, shook the government,
the sacrifice of Kasturba was to help secure a settlement.

The brutal treatment of the workers and the harsh sentences on the women had outraged public
opinion in India. Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, “the lion of Bombay” who had not supported the
satyagraha until then, roared after the arrest of the women that “his blood boiled at the thought of
these women lying in jail herded with ordinary criminals, and India could not sleep over the
matter any longer.” There were demands for an impartial investigation into the treatment of the
striking workers and the satyagrahis. Lord Hardinge, the Viceroy, in an unusual move, publicly
expressed his sympathy with the satyagrahis and conveyed to the South African and British
Governments the strength of feeling in India.

To appease Britain and to divide the Indian community, the South African Government set up an
Indian Grievances Commission on 11 December to inquire into the causes of the strike and the
disturbances in connection with it. Sir William Solomon, a respected judge, was appointed
Chairman. The two other members were Ewald Esselen and J.S. Wylie, two prominent
advocates, who were both notoriously anti-Indian. The Indian community, at meetings all over
the country, protested against the composition of the Commission and called for the addition of
two members acceptable to the Indians.

4
He addressed a mass meeting in Maritzburg on 22 December and 5,000 workers went on strike the next day.
On the recommendation of the Commission, Gandhi was released from prison on 18 December.
He addressed mass meetings of Indians on 18 December in Johannesburg and 21 December in
Durban. Both meetings adopted resolutions to boycott the Commission as it was constituted
without consulting the Indian community. The Durban meeting adopted three resolutions calling
for the boycott of the Commission, unless the government acceded to the request for the addition
of two members acceptable to Indians and the release of all passive resisters in prison. If the
government refused to comply with these requests, the third resolution declared, the community
would be obliged at once to prosecute the struggle with renewed vigour and determination.

In his address to the meeting, Gandhi said that, if the Government does not grant the requests,
“all of us, on the first day of the New Year, should be ready again to suffer battle, again to suffer
imprisonment and march out. (Applause.)… That is the advice we give to our free and
indentured countrymen - to strike, and even though this may mean death to them, I am sure it
will be justified.”

Gandhi expected that about 5,000 people would commence the march and that their ranks may
swell to 20,000 people.5

Gandhi conveyed the views of the community to General Smuts on 21 December, but the
government rejected the demands of the community.

Lord Ampthill from London and Gokhale from India strongly urged Gandhi not to boycott the
Commission and to abandon the renewal of passive resistance. Gandhi replied to them that the
community could not go back on its pledge – although there is no evidence of a vow as in 1906,
but only resolutions. Pressed further, he informed them that the mass of the people were so
indignant that if any attempt was made to advise acceptance of the present Commission, they
would kill the leaders. Gokhale appreciated Gandhi’s position and, though ill, was almost in
daily contact with Gandhi while pressing Lord Hardinge for appropriate action.

Gandhi was faced with a dilemma. Abandoning the march would be resented by the Indian
community while proceeding with it would alienate sympathy in Britain and India he had
cultivated over many years, including that of Lord Hardings. Moreover, there was likelihood of
violence by Europeans and the government if resistance was resumed.6

In the midst of these events, Kasturba and her party of satyagrahis were released from prison on
22 December. The Indian community had planned a huge procession in Durban to welcome
them. But that had to be abandoned as Kasturba came out emaciated.

Describing the heroism of the women satyagrahis, Gandhi wrote in Satyagraha in South Africa:

5
Cable to Gokhale, 26 December 1913.
6
C.F. Andrews, who had been sent by Gokhale to South Africa to assist the Indians, informed Gandhi that
Europeans had told him: “If the Indians go out again, there will be shooting.” C .F. Andrews, “Mr. Gandhi and the
Commission” in Modern Review, Calcutta, July 1914.
 “The women’s bravery was beyond words. They were all kept in Maritzburg jail, where
they were considerably harassed. Their food was of the worst quality and they were
given laundry work as their task. No food was permitted to be given them from outside
nearly till the end of their term. One sister was under a religious vow to restrict herself to
a particular diet. After great difficulty the jail authorities allowed her that diet, but the
food supplied was unfit for human consumption. The sister badly needed olive oil. She
did not get it at first, and when she got it, it was old and rancid. She offered to get it at her
own expense but was told that jail was no hotel, and she must take what food was given
her. When this sister was released she was a mere skeleton and her life was saved only
by a great effort…”

The “sister” was obviously none other than Kasturba.

Gandhi had to deal with the critical stage of the satyagraha while nursing Kasturba who was
hanging between life and death.

On 27 December, he received two messages which provided a solution for his dilemma. One was
a message from Gokhale that Lord Hardinge was sending a senior civil servant, Sir Benjamin
Robertson, to South Africa to assist the Indians and was asking the British Government to secure
adjournment of the meetings of the Commission. The other was a surprise: a telegram from Miss
Emily Hobhouse, appealing to him as a "humble woman" to postpone the march for fifteen days.

Miss Hobhouse had opposed the war against the Boers, and went to the concentration camps
where Boer women and children were kept in such deplorable conditions that 27,000 women and
children died. Her courageous campaign against the war, braving denunciation that she was a
traitor, had much to do with the end of the war and the efforts at reconciliation between the
British and the Boers. For Gandhi, who had been seeking support of persons with influence on
the Boers, her message was a godsend. He wrote in Satyagraha in South Africa: “The Boers
looked up to her with great respect and affection. She was very intimate with General Botha…”

According to Raojibhai Patel, Gandhi consulted his colleagues on the appeal of Miss Hobhouse
and decided to postpone the march by fifteen days. Whether it was due to the appeal of Miss
Hobhouse or the telegram from Gokhale or both, a crisis was averted. Gandhi was able to
announce at a public meeting in Maritzburg on the same day that important negotiations were
proceeding in connection with the grievances of the Indians and that the march might not take
place until 15 January.
The papers of Miss Elizabeth Molteno in the archives of the University of Cape Town explain
the intervention of Miss Hobhouse.7

Miss Molteno, a member of one of the most prominent families in the Cape, had also opposed
the Anglo-Boer War and went to live in London for several years. She became a friend of Emily
Hobhouse and met Gandhi during his visit to London in 1909.

Returning to South Africa, she bought a cottage in Ohlange, near Phoenix, and took a keen
interest in the Indian struggle. She went to see Kasturba on her release and spent a long time with
her enquiring about her health and the conditions in prison. She sent a message, through her
friend Alice Greene, to Emily Hobhouse who had come to South Africa to attend the unveiling
of a memorial to Boer women in Bloemfontein but had to remain in Cape Town because of
illness.

This is how Alice Greene described the origin of the telegram to Gandhi:

"She (Miss Hobhouse) was sitting up on her couch... I told her I had sent off a telegram to
Gandhi and that you had suggested her sending one too. She instantly took pencil and
paper and wrote down a long telegram which I sent off... She sent it to Maritzburg to catch
him at the mass meeting this afternoon. It was to the effect that her personal sympathy was
intense but that she would venture to advise patience. It would not do to alienate sympathy
and even endanger the very cause itself. Could he not wait until the meeting of Parliament
before having recourse to further resistance? Even yet English women had not achieved
full freedom. She used much gentler language than this, but that was the gist of it. She told
him also that everything was being followed with much sympathy and feeling."

When Gandhi agreed to the postponement of the march, Miss Hobhouse wrote a long letter to
General Smuts recalling her special connection with India through her uncle. She said that as a
woman without a vote, she sympathised with other voteless folk as the Indians. She then pressed
him to meet and talk to Gandhi:

"You see January 15 is the date now proposed for another march. Before then some way
should be found of giving private assurance to the leaders that satisfaction is coming to
them. Their grievance is really moral... never will governmental physical force prevail
against a great moral and spiritual upheaval. Wasted time and wasted energy, dear Oom
Jannie..."

General Smuts could not possibly ignore an appeal from her. On his invitation, Gandhi went to
Pretoria on 9 January. C.F. Andrews, who accompanied Gandhi to Pretoria, wrote:

7
Please see my article “Some Remarkable European Women who Helped Gandhiji” in E. S. Reddy, Gandhiji:
Vision of a Free South Africa. Sanchar Publishing House, New Delhi, 1995. It may be accessed at
http://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/Gandhijis_vision_of_free_south_africa-.pdf
 "There can be no doubt that during the days that followed the influence of Miss Hobhouse
with the Boer leaders did much to pave the way to a reconciliation. While we were in
Pretoria she wrote again and again both to Mr. Gandhi and myself. She thus kept herself in
touch with the whole negotiations and took part in them."8

Gandhi was surprised to see a great change in the attitude of General Smuts. Negotiations were
delayed by a railway strike but soon after it ended, a provisional agreement was reached quickly
and signed on 22 January.

Gandhi and Kasturba went to Cape Town in mid-February to bid farewell to C.F. Andrews and
to follow the developments on the Indian question. Kasturba's condition deteriorated and gave
cause for grave concern.

Miss Molteno and Miss Greene frequently visited the Gandhis at the home of Dr. A.H. Gool
where they stayed and enquired about her health. Miss Moletno introduced Gandhi to many
influential personalities. She arranged for the Gandhis to meet Miss Hobhouse who was staying
at Groote Schuur, the residence of Prime Minister Louis Botha. There they met Mrs. Botha, as
well as Mrs. Gladstone, wife of the Governor-General, who were both friendly and considerate.

Gandhi had written many times to General Botha for an interview but without success. But a few
days after meeting the Gandhis, Miss Hobhouse invited Gandhi again for a discussion at Groote
Schuur - and General and Mrs. Botha joined them.

When the Indian Relief Bill came before Parliament it was reported that Prime Minister Botha
threatened to resign if the Bill was not passed.9 Why did he take the adoption of a bill to end
injustices to a small, voteless and vulnerable community as a matter of vital importance? Was he
thinking of Miss Hobhouse and the meeting with Gandhi which arose out of the “silent
suffering” of Kasturba?

When Miss Hobhouse died, Gandhi wrote in an obituary in Young India on July 15, 1926:

"She played no mean part at the settlement of 1914...

"Let the women of India treasure the memory of this great Englishwoman."

8
C.F. Andrews, "Mr. Gandhi at Phoenix" in Modern Review, Calcutta, May 1914
9
Gandhi said in a speech in Kimberley on July 2, 1914: “General Botha, it must be admitted, has done much for us,
seeing that, for the sake of a community as docile as the Indians, he threatened to resign if the Bill was not passed.”